Selecting the right site is one of the most important steps to any renewable energy project. site selection impacts costs of construction, the ease of construction execution, and meaningful energy production. The sooner a project selects the right site, the fewer bumps in the road ahead.
So, it’s no wonder project developers are increasingly turning to satellites to make informed choices earlier in the process. Sentinel imagery provides a timely and reliable way to assess factors relevant to the project’s site selection, including terrain, vegetation, sunlight, and land-use trends.
The project developer can utilize this information to compare multiple dozens of prospective sites online, ensuring the project selects the sites that meet their project requirements.
The Benefits of Site Selection Analytics in Energy Projects
All renewable energy projects begin with a basic question: is this the right place to be building? The answer to that question ultimately hinges on how the site performs on a number of different factors.
For solar and wind farm developers, that number of factors will be how much sunlight or wind is available, the slope and condition of land, and whether the immediate area is improved with agriculture, industry, or homes.
Final approval of an site selection process by developers also includes considering the proximity of roads, boundaries, other human disturbance, nearby communities, and protected areas.
The project development teams’ failure to fully consider the issues noted above may lead to suboptimal levels of energy production, wasting thousands of equity investments, or legal and environmental problems in the future.
Because of this, project developers are using the best and modern options available, such as Sentinel-2 Satellite Images and GIS analytics to gather timely and reliable data with certainty.
How Satellite Technology Helps Choose the Right Site for Solar Farm?
Choosing a site to build a solar farm takes more than finding a sunny spot. Solar farm developers look for productive, practical, and low-risk locations. Their tool for screening many areas for sites is satellite technology.
Part of it is analysing the sun’s radiation – not just annual averages but hourly data that provides information about how the sun changes throughout the day and the year. Some places might look good on maps or annual climate evaluations but turn out to be problematic due to mornings with a lot of clouds or fog in winter.
Satellites can identify terrain problems. If the site is on a steep slope, for instance, the developer should ask if steep slopes will delay construction. They also look for flood zones and bad soil stability.
Additionally, developers will look to see where the roads, power lines, and substations are to determine how straightforward and cost-effective it will be to connect the plant to the grid.
The site team, using current and historical satellite images, can assess terrain and existing infrastructure from remote viewing. They can compare numerous locations and consider any risks to eliminate lesser choices and narrow it down to the best locations to pursue for a solar farm.
Using Sentinel Data To Support Solar Site Selection
Before sending surveyors into the field, energy project developers can access Sentinel data to filter out unsuitable solar sites remotely. With regularly updated images from Sentinel-2, planners can:
- Identify areas with steep terrain or vegetation regrowth that may cause shading or construction issues;
- Detect factors that impact solar exposure, such as persistent cloud cover and snow;
- Spot suitable areas while avoiding those of environmental sensitivity or agricultural value;
- Detect illegal land use or recent changes, like barren land turned into housing.
Platforms like EOSDA LandViewer allow viewing and analyzing free Sentinel satellite imagery over time to pre-screen large areas before field visits. This way, project teams visit only a few locations that actually match both energy and land-use criteria.
How Satellite Monitoring Helps Maintain Solar Farm Efficiency
Efficiency isn’t guaranteed once solar panels are in place; it should be carefully maintained. Satellite data helps by monitoring common performance threats:
- Weather disruptions. With live imagery, operators can quickly adjust energy planning or grid supply at times of lower energy production.
- Dust and pollution. Even a light dust layer can drop efficiency by 5–10%. Satellites detect dust storms and smog, so cleaning is done fast once needed.
- Shading. Trees, nearby buildings, or tilted sun angles can block sunlight. Sentinel data analytics help identify shaded spots before energy losses add up.
- Low-performance panels. Satellite monitoring helps operators track which panels are underperforming due to damage, dirt, or wiring issues.
When you can see what’s happening across the entire solar field through satellite monitoring, small issues don’t stay hidden for long. So, you can keep the system efficient with much less effort.
Smarter Renewable Projects With Tomorrow’s Satellite Tools
In the next years, energy project developers will make site decisions faster and even more confidently. Thanks to small satellites and improved image resolution, they will get fresh, high-detail views of the land every few days.
AI models will sort through large sets of satellite data to highlight which sites get the most sun, have stable ground, and won’t flood. Instead of waiting for weeks of local surveys, teams can filter out poor locations from their desks.
Later, if the site is approved, the same data will help track changes in land or weather conditions during construction. That means fewer surprises like blocked access roads or unexpected terrain shifts. All this reduces planning time, cuts travel, and avoids expensive rework.
At the same time, satellite services will get cheaper and easier to access. Developers won’t need in-house teams to process the data, and many tools will be automated and made available as subscription services.
This will help smaller energy projects compete with big ones, making high-quality monitoring more widely used, especially in regions that lack ground infrastructure.
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Author :
Petro Kogut has a PhD in Physics and Mathematics and is the author of multiple scientific publications. Among other topics, he has a specific focus on a satellite imagery processing and application in his academic research. Currently, Prof. Dr. Petro Kogut also works a science advisor.